


In It Together

by GH_123



Series: Christmas Prompts [5]
Category: Hollyoaks
Genre: F/M, M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-12-21
Updated: 2019-12-21
Packaged: 2021-02-18 08:10:04
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,054
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/21890980
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/GH_123/pseuds/GH_123
Summary: So I’ve noticed that this prompt isn’t very Christmassy but I have put it in the Christmas prompt requests as I’ve subtly mentioned winter haha!Based upon these two prompts:Ben:I had a request I was thinking as Harry gave up going to uni to and a promising career in sports to look after ste and his kids at only 17 james always wanted Harry to go back to uni and persue his dreams to become a sports coach or sports related career james always said Harry was smart funny handsome who has emotional and intellectual intelligence he could get a job at the school maybe bond with juliet over something and maybe include interaction with misbah I loved Harry and misbah scene in the showAlso would love some romantic firty fun jarry moments james loves Harry in his sports uniform or even james paying Harry a visit at work.Amy:I was thinking how would jp and Harry interaction would have been now that jarry are a family.. Now that Harry works at school as a sports coach jp is back working at the school and Harry is well aware of jp and James history and what happened between jp and ste and how he treated james and the stuff he said about james being incapable of love etc I know you are a jp and James fan aswelll.. I was just curious how jp and Harry interaction would have been like..Really tried to fill this as best as I could. I couldn’t quite fit any contact in with Misbah as she is a character that I’m not sure I would be able to write very well and I couldn’t quite figure out how to fit her in. Tried to focus more on Harry’s bond with Juliet and John Paul.Hope this is okay and always hope you enjoy :)
Relationships: James Nightingale/Harry Thompson
Series: Christmas Prompts [5]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1571641
Comments: 2
Kudos: 29





	In It Together

**Author's Note:**

> So I’ve noticed that this prompt isn’t very Christmassy but I have put it in the Christmas prompt requests as I’ve subtly mentioned winter haha! 
> 
> Based upon these two prompts: 
> 
> **Ben:** _I had a request I was thinking as Harry gave up going to uni to and a promising career in sports to look after ste and his kids at only 17 james always wanted Harry to go back to uni and persue his dreams to become a sports coach or sports related career james always said Harry was smart funny handsome who has emotional and intellectual intelligence he could get a job at the school maybe bond with juliet over something and maybe include interaction with misbah I loved Harry and misbah scene in the show  
>  Also would love some romantic firty fun jarry moments james loves Harry in his sports uniform or even james paying Harry a visit at work._
> 
> **Amy:** _  
>  I was thinking how would jp and Harry interaction would have been now that jarry are a family.. Now that Harry works at school as a sports coach jp is back working at the school and Harry is well aware of jp and James history and what happened between jp and ste and how he treated james and the stuff he said about james being incapable of love etc I know you are a jp and James fan aswelll.. I was just curious how jp and Harry interaction would have been like.. _
> 
> Really tried to fill this as best as I could. I couldn’t quite fit any contact in with Misbah as she is a character that I’m not sure I would be able to write very well and I couldn’t quite figure out how to fit her in. Tried to focus more on Harry’s bond with Juliet and John Paul. 
> 
> Hope this is okay and always hope you enjoy :)

“I saw this this morning” James placed down a folded piece of paper in front of Harry as he sat eating breakfast and the breakfast bar. Harry responded with a simple eye roll, he knew exactly what this piece would have typed upon it and if he was being honest he was getting fed up with James’ meddling. 

“Can you just leave it” Harry words were muffled through the cereal.

“You haven’t even looked at it” James wanted to be annoyed at Harry’s dismissive nature but watching him there in just his boxers, his toned torso on display slightly glistening from the water drops left from the morning shower, he couldn’t be anything but completely in love with him.

“I want to do this myself” Harry sighed as he placed the spoon back in the cereal bowl, the metal clattering against the dish. 

“It’s on the job training. I just thought it would be useful” James explained as he poured his morning coffee, he wasn’t going to argue with him on this one. It was far too early for all of that. 

“Hey” Harry spoke softly as he jumped down from the bar stool and made his way over to where James was stood. “I really do appreciate it” he smiled as he looped his arms around James’ neck. “You’ve done so much for me, this is something I have to do myself” Harry explained, as his fingers gently caressing the back of his neck.

He had felt that over the past six months, he had heavily relied on James, he provided him with a home, with food and warmth. What did Harry contribute to his life? Actually, a lot more than Harry would ever give himself credit for but he wanted to contribute financially. He wanted to get his life and career back on track but this had to be something he did himself, otherwise it would just become another thing he owed to James. He had to be responsible for his own life, take some control.

“I just want to look after you” James pouted. “You deserve so much more than you ever let yourself believe.”

“Love you” Harry smiled as he reached up on to his tiptoes and pecked James’ lips.

***

The afternoon was dragging and after a few failed attempts at searching for a job that caught his attention, Harry decided to give in and finally take a peak at the piece of paper James had slid across to him that morning. 

Harry quickly scanned what was written upon it, it was a job advert for a sports coach at the high school alongside the training needed. It was actually the perfect job for him, especially with the added bonus of training and would be the perfect filler whilst he waited nearly a whole year to begin his teacher training. 

The only problem was that it was at Hollyoaks HIgh School the same high school that Juliet attended, the same high school where James’ ex fiancé John Paul was the deputy head. The mix of those two being present in the school just didn’t seem like a successful combination. 

***

“So you’re not going to go for it?” James asked. “Harry it’s perfect” James tried to sell the job advert to him as they spoke on the phone over lunch. 

“James, it’s at the high school. John Paul would be my boss” he explained. James hadn’t actually given John Paul a second thought.

“And” James asked, Harry could hear the coffee machine whiz to life in the background. 

“Really? James, he’s your ex fiancé” Harry was surprised James couldn’t instantly see things from his perspective. 

“That was a long time ago. We’ve both moved on” James sighed, his voice growing slightly louder just to make sure Harry heard him over the noise. 

“So you’d be okay working with Ste? Right?” Harry shot back at him, they both had messy previous relationships, they both had numerous ex boyfriends (James’ list much longer than Harry’s), they weren’t perfect. But Harry would never expect James to work within such close proximity to one of his ex boyfriends.

“I would if it meant a huge step up the career ladder”

“You’re so full of shit” Harry laughed.

“Can you just consider it?”

“Fine” Harry huffed.

“Love you” Harry knew James was smiling, he could tell by the tone of his voice, he could picture that very smile and it made his heart leap in his chest.

***

Two weeks later and after much deliberation and persuasion from James, Harry had found himself applying for the job at the high school and subsequently found himself being offered the job.

James could not have been prouder of his boyfriend, this was a huge step for him, one he had managed to achieve all by himself. James wanted to do anything he could to make things as smooth as possible for him. 

“I feel so nervous” Harry admitted with a nervous chuckle. Today was his first day, he would be working with another coach for the first few weeks, shadowing and observing. Before being let out on his own, left to his own devices.

“I can’t believe you now work at my school” Juliet sighed loudly, in a way that only a stroppy teenager would as she threw her school bag down on the sofa. “Having my brothers boyfriend as the PE teacher. It wouldn’t be so bad if you didn’t try to act like my dad every five minutes” Juliet huffed again, directing her comment to James. It wasn’t even 8am yet and James was already having to put up with strops and mood swings.

“And people wonder why I never wanted children” James muttered to himself as Harry smirked. “You’re going to be absolutely fine” James placed his hands on Harry’s shoulder, under his touch and today especially the budding teacher suddenly felt small and fragile, all James wanted to do was protect him.

“Thanks” 

“Juliet, you need to be nice” James warned almost as if he was asking an older sibling to take care of their little brother on his first day of school.

“Whatever” Juliet rolled her eyes at the pair of them before throwing her school bag over her shoulder and leaving the house for school with a slam of the door. 

“I should probably get going to” Harry noted as he glanced down at his watch. James reached out and gently took hold of his arm, stopping him in his tracks.

“Probably best to give her a head start. It’s not going to do her street cred any good rocking up with you” James smiled.

***

As the weeks past Harry slowly found himself adjusting to life as a trainee teacher, it was a huge wake up call for him, the world of teaching really wasn’t what he was expecting. The hours were long and he found himself constantly tired all of the time, the workload was far more than he had anticipated yet still he found himself loving absolutely every minute of it.

“What is going on?” Harry bellowed down the corridor. He was still getting used to being an authoritative figure, he found it difficult telling kids really not that much younger than him how to behave and what to do, but the huge fight happening in the corridor and the gang of children circling them was too much for him to ignore. “Out of the way! Move!” he shouted over the chants of ‘fight, fight’, he somehow managed to push his way through the crowd to get to the fighting teenagers in the centre.

One of the girls, a tall brunette that he could see was Casey Porter was yanking the long blonde ponytail of another student, Harry knew straight away that it was Juliet. He would recognise that side, slick back ponytail anywhere. He stood there for a moment, unsure of how to deal with the situation.

“Girls” he yelled. “You need to stop this” despite Juliet nearly being dragged to the ground by her hair, she was still managing to kick Casey hard in the shins. “Girls” Harry tried again, this time managing to sandwich himself between them. Juliet reached out to take a swipe at Casey, but instead her hand ended up colliding with Harry’s face, scratching his cheek.

“My office now!” John Paul shouted, causing the girls to suddenly stop and the crowd of children surrounding them to disperse. “You might want to get that checked out Mr Thompson” John Paul suggested when he took one look at the scratch down Harry’s face.

“I’ll be fine” Harry tried to straighten himself up, he couldn’t believe how easy John Paul had made swooping in and solving the conflict look, he wasn’t sure he would ever reach that stage. “I was just trying to put a stop to the girls when you arrived” he explained, the last thing he wanted was for John Paul to think he wasn’t doing his job properly. 

“Thanks, I’ll take it from here”

There were no hard feelings between John Paul and Harry, they had never really interacted. They kept their distance from each other and didn’t have the intention of being friends but they were civil with one another, they had to be. Their personal lives had never actually crossed but they had far too many common interests, their ex boyfriends.

Harry knew how much James had loved John Paul, after all James wouldn’t have just proposed to anybody. He also knew how much John Paul had hurt him, knowing first hand how hard James found it to let people in, to open up to them. For John Paul to trash their relationship the way he did, well Harry’s heart just broke for James. 

What surprised Harry the most was how eager he was to please him, he actually wanted John Paul to like him, he wanted him to think that he was good at his job, capable of being a good teacher and not just another one of James’ conquests. 

As the cold winter night fell upon the school, Harry found himself packing up and leaving slightly earlier than he normally did, he smiled to himself, maybe he was finally getting into the swing of this teaching game. He pulled his coat around him tighter as he stepped out into the frosty night air, as he strode across to the car park, someone caught his eye, a young girl sitting on the school wall, upon closer inspection Harry could see that it was Juliet. 

“Hey” Harry sat down beside her on the wall, the brick cold benseath him, he didn’t know how long she had been sat here but just minutes would have been enough to freeze him. “Are you okay?” he asked, it was clear she had been crying.

Since moving in with James and becoming part of the Nightingale family, Juliet was the only member of the family that he had found tough to crack. She was much more like her older brother than both of them realised, damaged from her childhood, struggled to deal with emotions and held everybody at arms length. Since he started at the school, the relationship between the two of them hadn’t improved. 

“I’ve been excluded for fighting” she explained, every word punctuated with annoyance as she wiped her eyes. “James is going to go mad” she sighed. Harry had never really struck Juliet as being the type of girl to care what others thought, but all she wanted to do was impress James and prove him wrong.

“Why were you fighting in the first place? What was it all about?” Harry asked, unsure whether Juliet would provide him with an answer. 

“She’s was talking about my mum. Talking about me. I just lost it” Juliet shrugged, Harry could tell she was ever so slightly remorseful. 

“You can’t be getting yourself into fights though, Juliet” Harry explained. He wasn’t sure how to play the situation. Did he act like her teacher? Did he act like her brother partner? He figured he just needed to be a responsible adult and help her out as much as he could or as much as she let him. “That doesn’t work in the real world” he added. “You’re so much better than that.” 

“Yeah but what if I’m not” her shoulder slumped as she spoke. “Look at my parents, the odds aren’t exactly in my favour are they” she had a point, she hadn’t by no means had the easier start in life, but then neither had Romeo and he had managed to keep his life positive. 

“Yeah but if you react like that then you’re just giving everyone what they expect. You’re giving yourself a reputation” Harry tried to reason with her.

“I know, but...

“No buts, you can’t just fight everyone that you disagree with, no matter how much you want to. You have to be the bigger person. People just get hurt otherwise and things get messy” Juliet wasn’t sure but she got the impression Harry was talking from a personal experience.

“I’m sorry about your face by the way. I didn’t mean to...” her voice went quiet as she trailed off, she did feel guilty for hurting him. 

“It’s okay. I’m a big boy” he smiled as he gave her a little nudge. 

“You won’t tell James will you. He’ll be mad enough at the fact I’m having to sit around the house for the next three days, knowing I’ve hurt you will just make it all worse” her voice changed ever so slightly, she became somewhat more vulnerable and fragile. 

“It can be our little secret” he smiled. “Fancy a lift home? Or is it still too embarrassing to be seen with me” he asked as he jumped off the wall.

“I’ll take the lift, you’re not too bad” she smirked as she too jumped off the wall and began to follow Harry, it surprised him how much her words, although not that meaningful or heartfelt meant to him. 

“We can grab a take away or something on the way, give James a ring and see what he fancies” he told her throwing his phone at her, thankfully she caught it. “Might sweeten the blow of your expulsion too” he smirked. 

“Harry” he heard a voice call from behind him, followed by fast footsteps as if someone was trying to catch up with him. “Harry” he turned around to see John Paul hot on his heels.

“Hi” 

“Look, I just wanted to say thanks for earlier” Harry looked at him confused. He wasn’t sure what he had done to deserve a thank you. “Stepping in with the girls” John Paul clarified. “With one of them being Juliet it couldn’t have been easy, you did a good job”

“Thanks” 

“See you tomorrow” John Paul smiled before turning to walk away. As brief as the moment was, Harry suddenly felt a sense of acceptance.

***

“3 days! Jesus Christ Juliet” James had just been informed about Juliet’s expulsion to say he wasn’t impressed was an under statement. “You have your GCSEs this year, you can’t be behaving like this” he rambled as he filled the dishwasher.

They had waited until after dinner to break the news to him. Seeing Harry and Juliet return home together made him feel happier than he realised, neither one of them wanted to ruin that. 

“You can’t be ruining this for Harry either, this is his job now” James told her.

“I know” she moaned. “We’ve already spoken about this, do we have to do it again” 

“Yes, we do. This is your future we’re talking about, you don’t want to end up...”

“Like my mum” Juliet shouted back, she rose from her spot on the sofa and headed to her bedroom, slamming the door behind her.

“She drives me mad” James brought the wine glass to his lips and downed its contents. “Are you okay? This hasn’t messed things up for you has it?” Harry loved how quickly James changed, how he went from being utterly frustrated at Juliet to worrying about his career pretty much in the same breath.

“No, it’s fine” Harry gave a small smile. “I was the one that initially broke it up, it was horrible, they were really going at one another” Harry explained, he could still see Casey pulling Juliet to the ground by her hair, he had no idea girls could be so violent. 

“That’s not the reason for the scratch on your face is it?” James asked gently, as he leaned across and softly stroked his index finger down the still slightly sore looking mark on his cheek. 

“No, that was my fault, had something fall on me in the PE cupboard” it was only a small lie, he felt like he had really got somewhere with Juliet, he didn’t want to break her trust. “You know I feel like I had a real break through with her tonight, she’s not as hard faced as she seems. Funnily enough, she actually reminds me of someone very close to home” Harry spoke as they both walked to the sofa, wine glasses in hand. 

“Mmm” James hummed, he knew exactly what Harry was getting at, he could see it himself although he would never admit to the similarity. 

“I think it’s a good thing that I’m there, I can keep any eye on her, make sure she’s doing okay” Harry spoke reassessing the thoughts that he had when he first got the job. 

“You’re just a little superhero aren’t you” James smiled.

He was so appreciative of Harry and the effort he put in to what was slowly becoming their little family. Things had changed for them pretty quickly, going from it being just the two of them, romantic nights in whenever they fancied, doing whatever they wanted wherever the mood took them, to then suddenly their world and relationship being flipped upside down by the arrival of two teenagers. 

James was sure most people would have ran a mile, he would have done had he been in Harry’s situation, but Harry wasn’t like that. He was supportive and so annoyingly positive, without realising he was the person that held them all together. James knew he had someone for life, they were in this together.


End file.
